Bek David Campbell was born on July 8, 1970 in Los Angeles, California. His father, David Campbell, is a musician, and his mother, Bibbe Hansen, is a visual artist. While he is a second-generation Scientologist, his maternal great-grandmother was Jewish and his grandfather was a Presbyterian minister so he was exposed to many different spiritual beliefs. When his parents separated, Beck and his brother remained in Los Angeles with his mother, and he took her last name, Hansen. In L.A. he was influenced the diverse styles of music there. Beck dropped out of high school in tenth grade, and began to educate himself through travel. He lived in New York City for a short time and absorbed even more musical influences there, while performing on the streets. When he finally returned to Los Angeles, flat broke, he worked at various dead-end jobs while developing his own original music.

Beck performed whenever he could in Los Angeles, everyplace from the streets to punk clubs to coffee houses. He finally broke onto radio with the hit song "Loser", which led to his signing with Geffen Records. In 1994, he released the album Mellow Gold, and went on a worldwide tour. The next year he had a spot on the 1995 Lollapalooza tour. In 1996 he released the album Odelay, and its hit single, "Where It's At." The song got heavy airplay, and the video went into rotation on MTV. Beck put out three more albums – Mutations, and Midnite Vultures, and Sea Change. In 2004 he released Guero, and in 2006, The Information.

Beck’s musical style is a fusion of 90s alternative, pop, junkyard, country, hip-hop, folk, blues, and psychedelia. Pinning down one definition for his music is impossible.

Beck married actress Marissa Ribisi in April 2004. Their son, Cosimo Henri Hansen, was also born in 2004, and they had their second child in April of 2007.